Renewal
by DragonMaster65
Summary: The Gaang gets invited to an Earth Kingdom festival that celebrates good luck. Toph and Katara try to cheer Aang up over the loss of his bison. No real shipping. Complete- just a short oneshot.


Katara opened her eyes slowly. With a few slow blinks she realized there was a pair of bright green eyes mere inches from her nose.

"Ah!" she gasped, sitting up and throwing Momo from where he had been sitting on her chest. "Oh, Momo, you scared me!" With a shaking hand she gently pet his head as he made soft chirrup sounds. "I'm sorry buddy. You're okay, right?" The little white-and-brown lemur sat on her knees for a moment more before soaring up to the rafters of the house.

Katara slipped out of the bed all the way, far too awake to return to sleep. It was just after dawn, she guessed. It was hard to tell, within the walls of the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se.

After pulling her hair up and slipping on her town clothes, Katara left her room and went in search of Aang. The boy had been barely sleeping lately, feeling too distraught over the loss of his faithful bison. She moved to knock on his door, but stopped as a voice called out, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Katara turned towards the voice and brought her hand back to her side. "Why is that Toph? And good morning to you too."

The blind girl was slouched in her doorway, her hands behind her head in a nonchalant manner. "He just got to sleep, from what I can see. And is it morning? Not that it matters to me whether it's good or not." She waved a hand in front of her sightless eyes.

Katara frowned. "Yeah it's morning...but you said Aang still isn't sleeping good? This is getting ridiculous."

"I know what you mean. I mean, even Sokka with his paranoia about that Ju Di girl is sleeping fine."

"Well Sokka could sleep through a platypus-bear's mating ritual," Katara joked.

Toph smirked, holding in giggles. "I suppose he could."

Katara turned and started to walk down the hall to the kitchen. "I'm going to see what there is for breakfast," she called over he shoulder. "D'you want anything, Toph?"

Toph shrugged and made a big deal about stretching and sauntering after the older girl. "I suppose I could be convinced to brave your cooking for old time's sake."

Katara gasped and turned to give Toph a piece of her mind before she saw that the blind girl was only joking. "Oh, only for old time's sake, then?" She said, a smile across her face. "Don't tell me Ba Sing Se is growing on you, now is it?"

Toph stuck her tongue out at Katara. "No way! Not this pamper-palace. Give me some earth to bend and I'll show you a real city."

The two made their way to the kitchen only to find a piece of parchment atop their usual pile of supplies that was dropped off by whatever servants worked in the Upper Ring. Katara frowned and picked it up. "Toph, there's a note on top of our food."

Toph only shrugged, snagging a papaya and taking a huge bite out of it. With fruit juice dripping slightly down her chin she said, with her mouth full, "So read it then. Seeing as I can't."

"Right, of course," Katara said. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and read:

_To the Avatar and his Companions._

"We're just companions? I'm a member of the Bei Fong family! Arrogant--" Toph complained. Katara cut in, "Toph! Can I just read this?"

Toph scowled. "Right. Sure. Whatever."

_As a member of the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se, it is the greatest joy to invite you to today's Luck Festival. We are celebrating another year of peace and good fortune within our walls. It would be most honorable for the Avatar to join in to help purify and give Ba Sing Se the greatest fortune for another year._

_Ju Di_

Katara put the parchment on the table and sighed heavily. "They want just another show of how the war hasn't touched Ba Sing Se?"

Toph, who had worked her way through her papaya, reached for another. "What war? They don't believe there even is one."

"What about the war?" Sokka said, tiredly. He walked into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes and dragging his feet behind him. "Did we win yet?"

Toph threw an apple at Sokka, snickering as he barely caught it by the tips of his fingers. "It was a joke, Sokka. And no. Aang's barely even learned earthbending!"

Sokka sighed. "It was too much to hope for, I suppose then. What's that you were talking about, then?"

Katara tossed him the parchment. "We've been invited to a festival for tonight by Ju Di."

Sokka frowned, scanning the parchment. "Celebrating no more war? Well I suppose it could be fun if we want to live a lie."

"Sokka," Katara pleaded. "Can we not get into this right now?"

He huffed, crossing his arms and taking a bite out of the apple. "Fine. But why do you want to follow along with what those stupid Dai Li people want us to do?"

Toph nodded. "I'm with snoozles here. Why do you want to cooperate with these people that won't even help find Appa?" She perched herself atop the table, swinging her feet back and forth.

Katara scowled, picking out an apple herself. "It's not that I want to cooperate with them or fall into whatever they think they're planning. It's that I think Aang needs a chance to unwind. He certainly won't let himself do it. If anyone is going to get him to relax, it'll need to be us."

Toph cracked her knuckles menacingly. "Making people do things involuntarily is my specialty."

---

The air was buzzing with voices and noises. Venders called out cheap food and drink. Small children ran through the streets, dragging along friends and brightly colored kites. Toph wasn't scowling for once, though her mouth was not in what one would call a smile. Sokka had acquired an immense collection of different foodstuffs. Katara had woven bright blue ribbons into her hair. And Aang was following along behind all of them, his feet plodding on the ground heavily.

"Isn't this music amazing?" Katara asked, turning to look back at Aang.

He only shrugged, kicking a stray rock on the ground. "Yeah, if you like that sort of music. I'm not really into this Earth Kingdom music. It's not fun."

Katara sighed quietly. It would take a bit more that music to cheer Aang up, she realized.

"Anyone want some of this smoked jerky?" Sokka asked, his mouth nearly full. Everyone shook their heads. "More for me," he said, shrugging.

As they walked their way through the streets, the tense silence between them grew. Even Toph was feeling it as they stepped off into a small park.

"Why don't we sit over by that tree?" Katara asked. She pointed to a tall, spindly tree away from the crowd. "We can stay away from the rest of the people so we can see better if those Dai Li agents are watching."

Aang shook his head. "No. That doesn't make sense."

Katara stopped, putting her hands on her hips. "Well what do you suggest?" He didn't reply. "Well? Aang, come on. Just…let go for just one day. It's a festival."

He opened his mouth to argue, but he closed it quickly. "All right." Toph blinked in surprise. Even Sokka paused his chewing.

"Good," Katara squeaked. "It's settled."

They walked over to the tree and Toph plopped down immediately. "I love the feel of dirt beneath my toes. And this _grass._" She sighed heavily. "Being indoor stinks."

She sat up and patted the ground. "Come on guys. I want to snack on those moon peaches you brought, Katara."

They sat down and Katara doled out the moon peaches. She passes two to Aang, who gave them both to Momo. "I'm not hungry for Earth Kingdom food," he mumbled.

Toph ripped off a chuck on peach in her fist. "What's your _problem?_ It's just food. Some of the venders sell Fire Nation food." She reached out and grabbed the top of his head. With her deft fingers she popped the piece of peach into his mouth. "There. Chew. Swallow."

Aang nearly choked on the fruit before swallowing. "Ahh!" he gasped, rubbing at his throat. A small smile spread across his face. "Oh, that is good."

Sokka smiled. "Good. I don't know anyone who doesn't like Moon Peaches."

Toph smirked, her good humor back again. "There you go! You'll just have to adjust to it all. Adjust to having fun again."

Katara smiled and leaned against the trunk of the tree. She was glad that, if only for a moment, Aang had regained a bit of happiness.

----

So this was a short fic I wrote for my totally cool friend, Clem. She wanted a short story without shipping soooo I created a story that tries to explain how the rest of the Gaang tried to deal with Angst Aang.

I based this festival off of the Chinese Shangsi Festival, which, according to Wikipedia (May Agni always watch over its vast stores of electronic knowledge) is a celebration where people picnic and pick orchards. It is to purify oneself and rid oneself of bad luck. So I associated it with Ba Sing Se celebrating how there was no war and how lucky the great city was.

I totally want to participate in this festival now :3 So does Clem.

~DragonMaster65


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